Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Several
times our creativity gets stuck in a rut
as we work long and hard for several hours in a day, for months together and sometimes for years on one WIP. Our thoughts get stilted.
They seldom drift from plot, character, conflict and resolution. This leads to
battle fatigue. Yes, we do get tired and
the flow of creativity is restricted.

We
may call it Writer’s Block or by any other name. I noticed while teaching my
students that they were moving along just one track. The group of 18-19 year
old girls seldom strayed from the path of love stories. Most were getting stuck
in a rut.

To infuse fresh enthusiasm I introduced them to the Double Trouble Game which I had come across on my blogging friend
Australian Writer Sheryl Gwyther’s blog long time back. Sheryl generously allowed me to share this creative game not just with my students but with everyone. I would like to share
the game with everyone.

In
this game we have to pick two nounsfrom a list of unlikely
'room-mates' - naming words that do not gotogether.

Like:

GRASSHOPPER CHOCOLATE

GOLDFISH COKE

FROG GUITAR

MAN LEAF

BEE PENCIL

You
get the idea? Now imagine the combination of two (Frog and Guitar) and ask
yourselfWhat if ? Or you
can think of unusual situations consisting
of a frog and a guitar.

Like:What if a frog loved the guitar? What if the frog lived
inside a guitar?Or what if a frog liked to play a guitar to serenade his
girlfriend? What happens when the frog is rejected by other frogs because of his love for guitars?

How will our Frog ( my frog is called Freddy Strings) cope with this rejection
from other frogs? Can he live away from
the frog community? What is he going to
do? Would he stop playing the guitar? Would he stop living inside the guitar
and move to another place? Short stories
can be built on these unlikely room mates.

My brief to my
students was “ Go wild. Have fun. Let nothing hold you back.” And fun they had.
I got such unlikely roommates (Cindrella- McDonald, Dog-Rose, Icecream-Sun,
Plant-Coke, A popular Actress-Chocolate, Ant-Skateboard ). The stories built
around these strange roomies were wild, wacky and weird. But it did let loose
their creativity.

I think this is a wonderful way
to create unusual situations in our
manuscripts. We can take two unlikely
room mates ( elements from our WIP) and come up with something unusual. Maybe
we can arrive at an unexpected and
unusual plot twist. Who knows which
direction our imagination will lead us to?

What do you think
of the Double Trouble Game? It would be great if you share two unlikely room mates with us. What is their unusual problem/situation? Don’t you think this can be a wonderful source of inspiration not just for picture book writers, but for all of us?

Sunday, September 26, 2010

I caught this Blog Fest on Madeleine’s Blog a bit late. I just hope my post makes the deadline. It’s

been a bit of a rush to gather my top ten favourites from the different corners
of my mind.

My Top
10 is in random order.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. Set in post - independence,
post - partition India. A
book I read 13 years back. Its the story of every Indian mother who has
a daughter of marriageable age. The
book is about the ups and downs of the journey to find a suitable boy.

The Crow Eaters by Bapsi Sidhwa. A humorous tale that
plunges us into the heart of a parsi
community with the
protagonist Faredoon (Freddie) Junglewalla. The pages are replete with the customs and unique traits of the parsi community.

Matilda by Roald Dahl. Matilda was my first encounter
with the amazing Roald Dahl. Matilda
Wormwood who loved to read from the age of two was stuck with parents who had
no interest in her whatsoever, she wormed her way into my heart and has continued
to stay there.

Artemis Fowl By Eoin Colfer. The anti hero is
my personal favourite.

The God Of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. The story set
in Ayemenem Kerala about twins
Rahel and Estha who are trapped in
a rigidly pre- determined social niche
where the female characters suffer twice as much as the male
characters shows the hypocrisy
prevalent in our society.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I personally felt that it explored plenty of themes :jealousy, hypocrisy,
infidelity, family, marriage, society. It presented a vast panorama of
Russian Life.

WutheringHeights
a gothic novel by Emily Bronte needs no
introduction. Heathcliff, Catherine
Earnshaw and Edgar Linton are popular and memorable literary figures.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Many
elements go into making a book lovable
and memorable. The reason we like some
books and dislike others
is not just because of the
writing style or the story, but for several other reasons.

I have read many not so great books only
because I found the characters worthy of following. Unfortunately these
characters were caught in a not so great story. Many other books I have
read because I liked the way the
plot twists kept me on tenterhooks, though I disliked the
language and the writing style was
ordinary.

For a book
to make the cut, many elements must fall into place. The ones that instantly
come to mind, I have listed below.

1.A Strong
Protagonist: who beckons the reader into his/her story and makes them follow him/her page after page. A
protagonist who becomes a literary friend, one we are eager to know more about.

2.A
Powerful Antagonist: who evokes immense dislike from the readers. To see the antagonist fall and lose, readers root for the protagonist's victory and get glued to the pages.

3.A
Unique, Original, and Amazing Setting that has the readers eager to know more.
Settings take time to create, but they are well worth the effort.

4.An
Engrossing Conflict that sucks the readers in its grip.

5.Unexpected
Twists and Turns of the Story: keeps the readers engrossed.

6.A Generous Sprinkling of Romance: brings a smile on the readers’ faces
and makes their hearts flutter.

7.Heart
Tugging Emotions: very crucial for the
emotional connect with the readers.

8.Rounded,
Peripheral Characters : they help in
pushing the story forward.

9.Atleast
two Strong Subplots that Intersect the
Main Plot: this can involve the
peripheral characters and is extremely
crucial to break the monotony if the main plot slackens.

10.A
Gripping Plot: packed with racy scenes
that add tension and make it a page turner.

11.Awesome
Writing Style: full of vivid and unusual descriptions.

12.Wonderful
Dialogues or as I prefer to call them
Conversation Pieces that are remembered
long after the book has been put down.

13.A Great
Resolution ; preferably a Happily Ever After.

Do you think there are other elements that I have
overlooked? Is there any other element that
is crucial? Please tell us, not
only are we keen to hear about it, we
can also add it into our next manuscript.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

This post
is inspired by a comment made by my blog
and writing mentor Lia Keyes.

Here
is her comment on my post Ganesha’s Symbolism for Writers “What a lovely idea, Rachna, to tie your
spiritual beliefs to your writing. I do think that writers who stop trying to
direct their writing from a factual place within themselves and instead listen
to a higher source, as though taking dictation, tend to end up with a more
soulful end result that moves readers more deeply.”

Lia’s
comment resonates with me. Because I too
believe that we have an Invisible Hand Guiding
our Writing from a far off place. Sometimes the stories
our dictated to us. At other times key points are whispered into our ears so
that we are able to build a story based on that. Actually if we come down to it where do we get
our ideas and thoughts from. There has
to be a larger source of ideas from
where we tap our story ideas. The reservoir of ideas I believe is
held by the power who controls us. We may call it by different names.

This super power is not only responsible for our ideas but also
whispers in our ears to work on those ideas. He gives us the patience and
dedication and infuses in us the passion to pursue our dream. Have you noticed
how from a basic seed (germ of an idea)
we are able to weave tales of hundred
odd pages, add all kinds of characters, write thousands of words that make a
huge impact on our readers. Whenever we are weighed down by pressure, something or the other is always
there to ease our burden. When we are plumbing the depths of despair, in a
strange but surprising way a small good
news drops into our laps. It could be a critic partner’s fabulous feedback, a
blog award, news about a manuscript or
story we had sent somewhere. This Invisible Hand is always quick to brush away
our tears.

Its this Invisible Hand that sweeps away the Writer’s Block that crops up at frequent intervals in our lives. At
those times when we are stuck, he is
responsible for the AHA moments that help us in crossing the big hurdles.

Its always God’s subtle hand
that sees us creating anything
beautiful. Many writers see glimpses of their stories in dreams. Others have visions where their characters
come to life. The Muse who I consider God’s messenger for Scribes carries the
messages to our brains. Any thing of beauty
has God’s hand behind it: at times supporting the effort, at other times
urging us along and many times holding
us when we fall.

Several times when I am stuck
big time I have seen that Invisible Hand coming to my rescue in different ways.
Maybe a conversation with a friend helps
in untangling the plot, sometimes while watching a movie my story unravels in my mind. Many times
story ideas pop into my mind when I least expect it. Something I see on the
road motivates me to change my character’s behaviour or goal.

What about the Invisible Hand
Guiding your Stories? How have you felt that divine presence? Will you share
your experiences with us?

Friday, September 17, 2010

A
successful book encapsulates not
just a good story but also a clever and smart marketing strategy. Many good
books because of low visibility just do not reach the masses. A writing friend
and I were discussing how the actors market their movies. Everyone is aware of the forthcoming releases. What I am trying to say
is that there is heavy duty marketing done for movies. Writers work as hard as
actors, I think we lose out because writing is not a glamorous profession and
not everyone likes to read. They would rather watch a movie.

Many writers consider it infra dig to
market their books. They feel their job
ends with writing and after that it’s the publisher’s problem. I disagree.

I have
realized that we writers can do a lot to
market our books. When my first two books were published, my publisher
requested me to ask my family and close
friends to visit bookshops to buy
my books. When the staff in the book
shops realize that the book is moving they not only give it a prominent display
but also recommend it to other customers. Unfortunately I was too shy to ask
anyone to do this and the 35% discount offered by my publisher to friends placing
bulk orders enticed them away from the bookshops. They approached her office
directly.

One
writer I knew had put up posters of her books outside movie halls. I did see
people stop before the poster. But how
many actually bought the book I have no idea. But atleast the book got some visibility.

Publishers can do a lot to market the books.

1.Putting
up posters in schools and colleges and other frequently visited places is a
good idea for spreading the word around.

2.Approaching
schools with offers of huge discounts if bulk orders are placed is another
great idea. Many schools distribute books as prizes.

3.Approaching
librarians and talking with library
owners about our books is another smart
marketing strategy. Many prefer to borrow books from the library than buy books. But atleast the book is read.

4.Organising
book reading and signing sessions in bookshops is a
wonderful idea. If this can be combined with a themed event ( like my publisher
did for my books) its super.

5.Arranging
for author interveiws with several newspapers did its bit in spreading the word
for my first two books.

6.Sending
out free copies to newspapers for reviews. The books can also be given to
columnists whose columns have a wide readership.

7.What
we didn’t do was the radio marketing. Local channels like (FM, 94.3) have a fantastic reach. Unfortunately my publisher
just did not tap that media. Radio contests with the book as prize would have
worked wonderfully well. People are listening to the radio all the time: while
driving and at home. And who doesn't like a free book.

8.Organising
readings and visits in schools was
another missed opportunity. This is one
of the best ways for children’s books to reach their readers.

9.Blog
posts about book releases and Tweets are effective Internet mediums to bring the book to the notice of
people inhabiting the virtual world. As are like pages. Blog contests and giveaways
are a great way of spreading the word around.

10.One Indian
publisher put up ads about their
forthcoming book on MTV.

11.The same
publisher also placed newspaper ads.

Do you believe in
the adage that effective marketing sells
more copies? What does good
marketing mean to you? Any ideas you would like to share about marketing?

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

When we start our WIP, there is a lot of enthusiasm going;
to keep the initial chapters strong, to introduce the character and the setting, to hook the readers into the
story, we give it our best shot and when
we end, extra attention is invested in the last few chapters to tie all the
loose ends together, to effectively resolve the conflict. The beginning and the
ending take tremendous effort from us. They
actually tire us so much that we have little energy to tackle the middle
chapters.

It’s the middle that has us in a muddle. It’s
either flabby and inflated: carrying extra layers of story fat, or sunken: devoid of attention grabbing conflict.
The middle lot of chapters tend to shed momentum, the pace slackens and things
slow down to a crawl.

It’s at this point readers lose
interest in the story. Its then the time to ask ourselves how to keep the
middle as sharp, spicy, crisp and interesting as the rest of the
book.

I have realized that a lot can be done to
spruce up and tighten the middle. I am
currently doing this. A few plot twists can stir things up, the introduction of a new
character will keep reader interest
alive, even the exit of an old character will elevate the suspense. A life altering situation
can be added. As well as few surprises; both for the reader and the protagonist. The middle can also be
the start of the final clash which we can call the pre-final climax. The
protagonist will then have to make a
decision on the next course of action.

The middle of my current WIP has settled down to a
slow trot. My middle chapters need a really good stirring up. So I
added a little emotional
turbulence and made it a time for the protagonist
to indulge in a bit of introspection about her motives. Inner conflict was increased. What was my character willing to sacrifice to achieve her
goal? If she doesn’t win what would be the consequences and what would happen to her?

The middle is the time to push our protagonists out of their comfort zones, throw them into
shark/whale infested waters and watch them battle successfully. The protagonists
have to earn their stripes. They have to tie their shoe laces tightly and ready
themselves for the final round. We can add a life threatening event which will shake
the protagonist and the reader out of their boredom induced stupor.

Middle
portions of manuscripts are trying and taxing indeed. What do you all do to
keep the interest and suspense alive? Is
there any way to tighten the middle belt? Please share your middle secrets with
us, as we all often get in a muddle over the middle.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Ganesha is
the elephant headed Hindu God. His birth
is unique: his mother: Goddess
Parvati smeared her body with a paste of
sandalwood and many fragrant herbs. She
collected this mixture and shaped it into the form of a small boy and breathed life into it. She
asked the boy to keep guard while she went
for bath. Her husband Lord Shiva returned
home after a long meditation session.

He was
shocked to see the strange boy outside his house. The small boy refused to let the God enter. An argument ensued. Lord Shiva reknown for his quick temper
chopped the boy’s head. After the
Goddess finished her bath, she was shocked to see her son’s head on the floor.
To console his distraught wife, Lord Shiva sent his minions in search of a creature whose head
they could transplant over the boy’s neck.
The first creature the minions saw was the elephant.

The elephant head was brought and Lord Shiva placed
it over the boy’s neck. But his wife was not satisfied. Her argument was
that everyone (Gods and demi gods) would
laugh at her elephant headed son and no one would respect him. Lord Shiva
blessed the boy with a boon that he would
rule over all the Gods by being the Remover of Obstacles. Every endeavour had to start with a prayer to Ganesha.

Ganesha’s
entire body is filled with symbolism.

Ganesha’s
trunk indicates the wise person’s immense strength and fine discrimination;
an elephant’s trunk has the strength to uproot trees and
the grace to pick up needles. His large
ears show that the wise person hears everyone.

Ganesha has four hands. In one he holds a lotus: the symbol of enlightenment. In the other he
holds a hatchet : symbolizing the
cutting of old karma: accumulated good and bad of past deeds get cut when
enlightenment occurs. The third hand
holds laddoos: rewards of a wise life. But Ganesha is never shown eating
them just as a wise man never partakes of the rewards of his deeds. There is no
attachment to the deeds. The fourth hand is shown blessing people. The wise man
wishes good for everyone.

Ganesha
has only one task; the other is shown broken. Perhaps this is to show that
perfection is just an illusion. Ganesha is shown with one foot on the ground and the other
resting on his knee. The wise person is of this Earth, yet not entirely of this
Earth. He is seated on a rat that keeps nibbling on whatever is available. The
rat is a symbol of our senses, never satisfied. The wise person rides on his
senses and keeps them under control.

The
entire cosmos is said to reside in Ganesha’s
large belly, held together by the Kundalini or cosmic energy symbolized
by a snake. The son of Lord Shiva: the
god governing the life force and Parvati:
the earth mother, symbolizes the spirit
and body of the wise person.

Ganesha also played the role of a scribe, he was requested
by Ved Vyasa (a sage) to write down the Mahabharata (epic) while the sage
dictated.

Ganesha’s
symbolism for us writers.

The Four
hands of Ganesha are the four
components of our books: setting, character, conflict and resolution. His rat is symbolic of the distractions that
trouble us. Ganesha’s foot resting on the ground symbolizes our grounding in
reality and the other foot resting on the knee symbolizes our thoughts ( the stories
we create). The entire cosmos residing in
Ganesha’s belly is a symbol of all the incidents packed inside our manuscripts.
Ganesha’s trunk is a symbol of our inner editor
which has the wisdom to delete the unsuitable parts in our manuscripts
and retain what it considers suitable. Ganesha’s large ears symbolize the comments we hear in
our writing careers.

Lets pray
to the remover of obstacles to bless all our endeavours and clear the obstacles in our paths. May Ganesha’s
blessings be with all of us on this Ganesh Chaturthi. ( 11th Sep)

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Whenever I read a book, I look forward to the pages filled
with dialogues. Not only do they provide a respite from the descriptions but
also help me in understanding the scene and
familiarize me with the characters. The way they talk, the way they
think.

I will share nuggets about dialogues which I have gathered from several sources,
including my own insights from the books I have read and liked and also from the assignments of my
students: why I liked some dialogues more than
others.

1. Dialogues should
be as natural as possible. For this we have to be good listeners. We should
listen to how people talk. Stilted and
forced dialogues hamper a great scene.

2. Long
Dialogues are boring. Just like long
descriptions can put readers to sleep so can long dialogues.

3. Dialogues with too
much information can grate on the nerves. It becomes obvious that the author
has made the dialogue a dumping ground for information overload. Add the
information little by little. Let
readers get used to first lot of
information before the next lot is piled upon
them.

4. Overdoing of dialogue tags detract from the actual
dialogues. Sometimes “ she said, he
replied, ” are better than fancy dialogues tags which distract the readers’
attention from the actual dialogues.

5. Whenever there is
a dialogue between two people, dialogue tags can be done away with. The reader
is intelligent and is capable of understanding which character is saying what.

6. Dialogue should always be authentic and real.
We should do our research well to check
for the authenticity of dialogues. We should check our dialogues against people
: will a doctor talk like that, would a police inspector say this, will a
teacher speak in this way, will a teenager use that word?

7. Dialogue should always be broken with
action. This way our readers will
remember that our characters are real people engaging in some action.

8. Slang, abuses
and stereotypes must be given a
shove.

9. Dialogues should and must contribute to the
plot.

10. The purpose of
the dialogue is to advance the story, flesh out the character and ofcourse
provide the reader a welcome break from long descriptive paragraphs. And the
dialogue should do all that.

11. Dialogues should
suit the occasion and the scene.

12. Dialogues can identify characters. It would be fun to
make certain characters speak in a
certain way. That way dialogues become
personalized like badges for the
characters.

I love to write the dialogues. For me it’s the
fun part of my manuscripts. I am guilty
of overdoing on dialogue tags ( I hate to repeat a dialogue
tag, I prefer to add variety) and I am sure my
long dialogues must be driving my editors crazy. What about you all? How do you all tackle dialogues? Any dialogue
guilts that you would like to admit?

Friday, September 3, 2010

Cliches are an editor’s nightmare. Actually they are
everyone’s nightmare. I have nothing personal against clichés, but, I really,
really hate them. Whenever I come across the common cliches my hands itch to
scratch them out.

Few months back, a writing friend I had
befriended on one of the social
networking sites sent me few pages of her story. She just wanted my feedback. The more writer
friends I am making, the more politically correct I am getting. I hate to
criticize someone’s work as I detest ruffling feathers, or, bruising egos. I
would hate it if someone criticized my work.

Her
writing was riddled with clichés. She is a veteran writer probably writing even
before I was born. I will not talk of the clichés infesting her work, but I
will give you few examples of clichés that can me modified.

I always feel there are better ways of saying
things. Instead of saying “the color of
her dress was as green as grass” we can always say “ her dress was the color of freshly watered grass.” This
description instantly creates an image of
swaying grass with drops of water clinging to it.

Another
cliché that really irks me is “her eyes were blue as the sky,” we can say this in a
different way “her eyes were the color of a cloudless summer sky.” There is an
instant visual of an endless blue sky
devoid of clouds.

A
cliché I detest is “ her hair was as black as the night.” There is always a
better description, we just have to exercise our creative cells. Isn’t the description “ her hair was dark as
sin, her hair was the color of melted dark chocolate, her hair was the color of
a cold winter’s night,” way better.

“Far
from the madding crowd,” is a cliché I have come across several times.
Isn't “far from the dust and pollution
of the city,” or “ far from city noises,” a slightly better way of
describing the same thing?

The
stereotypical clichés should actually be cremated. Cliches should be given a
royal burial. There is no place for them in a good piece of writing. Cliches
are responsible for pieces of writing that come under the heading of ‘ Bad Writing.’

As
writers we are supposed to see the unusual in the usual stuff, to see a thing
differently is our forte. And to describe it in an unusual way is what we specialize in. Our descriptions conjure vivid images in our readers’ minds.
They literally transport them to other
and different worlds. It’s our moral
duty towards our readers to give them different descriptions.

Is
there any cliché you particularly detest? Is there another and better way of describing it? We all would
love to read about the clichés you abhor.

About Me

Welcome to my Scriptorium, my online Writing Room. I love to connect with other writers, so grab a chair, a cup of coffee, a bar of chocolate and we will discuss stories, books, writing, works in progress, characters, plots, marketing, titles and many other things related to writing and publishing.